Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate it | New Year New thread

[kihei]

Bridgit Jones: Mad about the Boy (2025) Directed by Michael Morris 4A

This fourth and presumably final installment of the Bridgit Jones story is basically a middle-aged women's fantasy movie. There have been about a zillion middle-aged male fantasy movies, starting with 10 in 1979, so it seems only fair that women finally get their fair share of these types of movies, too. The problem is such movies are often formulaic and predictable, and that is a real dilemma with Bridgit Jones: Made about the Boy. Bridgit is now widowed and trying to raise two children aged about six and ten-years-of-age as a single mother. She finally meets someone much younger than her and consequences follow that we can see coming a mile away. The cast of familiar characters is back, now quite a bit older in real life than the time that has passed in the movie franchise. In fact, Zellweger looks more like her children's grandmother than mother. Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant have funny cameos, but that doesn't help when the movie trades light comedy for sentimentality in the flagrantly tear-inducing second half. For me, the big problem was Zellweger herself. She is sort of a spunky caricature of the original character but with no real depth....it's not a mailed-in performance, but it just seems more like the same three facial expressions repeated over and over with very little going on inside that head. Fans of the franchise might enjoy this movie, but most will find Brigit Jones: Mad about the Boy an easy pass.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Rifftrax: Yor, the Hunter from the Future - 8/10

featuring MST3K/Rifftrax favorite Reb Brown, the movie was full of bad effects, bad acting, and bad wigs, which added up to a lot of opportunities for great riffs, not on the level of Space Mutiny, but a solid above average episode

 

[Pink Mist]

Hamlet (dir. Laurence Olivier, 1948)

Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet is a film that understands Shakespeare’s text so well that it dares to bend it, trim it, and mold it into something undeniably cinematic. It’s moody, expressionistic, and deeply psychological—turning Denmark’s royal court into a shadow-drenched dreamscape where guilt and fate loom over every corridor.

Olivier is both in front of and behind the camera, delivering a hypnotic performance as the prince lost in his own mind. His delivery is precise, sometimes eerily quiet, sometimes boiling over into madness. This isn’t the most dynamic or rebellious Hamlet—no, this is a man who seems swallowed whole by the weight of thought, something the film’s misty cinematography and ghostly set design reflect beautifully.

It’s also the first time a Shakespeare adaptation won Best Picture at the Oscars, and it’s easy to see why. The visual style is unlike anything else from the time, with sweeping crane shots and fluid tracking movements making the castle feel both grand and suffocating. The film cuts down Shakespeare’s play significantly, removing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, trimming political subplots, and leaning hard into Hamlet’s psychology. Some purists might bristle at these changes, but it’s hard to deny the clarity and focus they bring to the film.

Is it perfect? Not quite. The pacing can be sluggish, and Jean Simmons’ Ophelia, while compelling, feels sidelined. But as an adaptation, it does what so many don’t—it commits to a vision. This isn’t just Hamlet on film; it’s Hamlet as cinema, a story told with angles, shadows, and an overwhelming sense of inevitability. Maybe Hamlet couldn’t make up his mind, but Olivier knew exactly what he was doing.

 

[kihei]

Hamlet (dir. Laurence Olivier, 1948)

Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet is a film that understands Shakespeare’s text so well that it dares to bend it, trim it, and mold it into something undeniably cinematic. It’s moody, expressionistic, and deeply psychological—turning Denmark’s royal court into a shadow-drenched dreamscape where guilt and fate loom over every corridor.

Olivier is both in front of and behind the camera, delivering a hypnotic performance as the prince lost in his own mind. His delivery is precise, sometimes eerily quiet, sometimes boiling over into madness. This isn’t the most dynamic or rebellious Hamlet—no, this is a man who seems swallowed whole by the weight of thought, something the film’s misty cinematography and ghostly set design reflect beautifully.

It’s also the first time a Shakespeare adaptation won Best Picture at the Oscars, and it’s easy to see why. The visual style is unlike anything else from the time, with sweeping crane shots and fluid tracking movements making the castle feel both grand and suffocating. The film cuts down Shakespeare’s play significantly, removing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, trimming political subplots, and leaning hard into Hamlet’s psychology. Some purists might bristle at these changes, but it’s hard to deny the clarity and focus they bring to the film.

Is it perfect? Not quite. The pacing can be sluggish, and Jean Simmons’ Ophelia, while compelling, feels sidelined. But as an adaptation, it does what so many don’t—it commits to a vision. This isn’t just Hamlet on film; it’s Hamlet as cinema, a story told with angles, shadows, and an overwhelming sense of inevitability. Maybe Hamlet couldn’t make up his mind, but Olivier knew exactly what he was doing.

Great review

 

[Babe Ruth]

The Jimmy Show (2001)

I thought this was an interesting slice of life movie.. Frank Whaley, who I've liked, since 'Career Opportunities' (a kind of poor man's Jon Cryer), plays a working-class everyman. His job sucks, his marriage collapses, and he's responsible for taking care of his ailing grandmother. As the walls close in on his life, he starts performing (very unfunny) stand-up at a local comedy club. It's a dark, sometimes funny, relatable look at reluctant responsibility. On Tubi.

 

[Pink Mist]

The Rocket (dir. Kim Mordaunt, 2013)

A film about resilience, superstition, and survival, The Rocket delivers a heartfelt journey through a rarely depicted corner of the world. Kim Mordaunt crafts a visually striking coming-of-age tale, following Ahlo, a boy burdened by the belief that he brings bad luck to his family. After being displaced from their home due to the construction of a dam, Ahlo and his family embark on a journey through war-scarred landscapes, leading to an explosive climax at a local rocket festival.

At its best, The Rocket soars. The Laotian setting is both breathtaking and sobering, capturing a world shaped by poverty, superstition, and the ghosts of war. Mordaunt never shies away from showing the harsh realities of displacement and unexploded bombs littering the countryside, giving the film a layer of real-world weight that makes Ahlo’s determination all the more powerful. Sitthiphon Disamoe is fantastic in the lead role, bringing an authenticity that keeps the film engaging, especially in his scenes with the eccentric, James Brown-loving outcast Purple.

But for all its strengths, The Rocket leans into formulaic storytelling a bit too often. The underdog narrative is predictable, and the emotional beats sometimes feel overly manufactured, especially with a swelling score that cues the audience on exactly how to feel. There’s a rawness in the story that occasionally gets smoothed over by conventional tropes.

Still, it’s hard to resist the film’s earnest heart. While it doesn’t reinvent the coming-of-age genre, The Rocket offers a rare and compelling glimpse into Laotian culture, anchored by strong performances and a gripping final act. It’s an easy film to root for—just don’t expect it to break new ground.

 

[kihei]

Grand Theft Hamlet (2024) Directed by Sam Crane and Pinny Grylis 6A

The brainchild of Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, two out-of-work actors going crazy with boredom during the pandemic, Grand Theft Hamlet is about their attempt to stage Shakespeare's Hamlet in the virtual space of their favourite video game, Grand Theft Auto. Roaming around in the landscape of the game, they actually found an auditorium and decided to try to create an in-game production of the play, enticing other gamers (and their avatars) to participate in the staging. Grand Theft Hamlet doesn't contain the complete play but rather records how the two actors attempted to bring their bright idea to fruition (while at the same time getting "killed" in the game several times by random players).

While watching Grand Theft Hamlet, I recalled that pioneering film critic James Agee once reviewed a movie called Bill and Coo that starred parakeets and other birds. Like that movie, it is one thing to create such a work, but another thing to justify why it was a good idea in the first place. This is certainly an original staging of the play, but the execution doesn't make for especially compelling viewing. At best, Grand Theft Hamlet can be seen as a weird kind of documentary about the production of the play under uniquely challenging circumstances. But I found a little of that went a very long way. Still I have to give Crane and Oosterveen some credit for coming up with a wholly unexpected, never before thought of idea and making it work to the degree that it does.

MUBI

 

[Osprey]

Still I have to give Crane and Oosterveen some credit for coming up with a wholly unexpected, never before thought of idea and making it work to the degree that it does.

Fan-made movies in game engines have been around since the 1990s and are termed machinima, but I've never heard of one adapting an existing story (Shakespeare, no less) and live in an online world. So, this does seem different from previous examples of the art form.

 

[Winger98]

The Substance: 6ish/10

Everything I heard about this movie was how brave Demi Moore was going nude in it at her age. Which, I get it, but it also makes the movie's point for it. Moore's performance goes far beyond her birthday suit, expressing the frustration and frank rage at her being sidelined not just by her career but by her younger self.
What I don't see talked about is Dennis Quaid. His character is easy to hate; a loathsome creature that Quaid plays for everything it has. To be clear, you don't like the guy. But he love seeing him on screen.

The creature effects stood out to me. I don't know how much was practical and how much of was CGI, but it was done well. I really really hope the final creature was an actual suit in all of its glory. It looks like a suit, and that's a big positive in my book.

The music score for the reveal on stage at the end was a nice touch, but the entire dance scene and the outfits made me think very much of "Christmas in Heaven" from Monty Python's Meaning of Life. If the lights came on to that song, I wouldn't have been disappointed.

A lot has been made of the message of the movie, and maybe I'm just too agreeable to it for it to be a big deal to me.

 

[kihei]

Flow won best animated film.YAY.

 

[Timeless Winter]

Not sure how the Wild Robot lost.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Flow won best animated film.YAY

Our cat conveniently joined us on the couch before they announced it, so, we shouldn't have been surprised.

And now he's left again

 

[The Macho King]

Watched The Social Network the other night.

10/10 one of the best movies of the 21st century.

Then I watched Moneyball.

8/10 excellent script and top tier dad movie.

Then I watched the Flintstones.

2/10 but Halle Berry is about as hot as anyone has ever been on film.

 

[kihei]

Not sure how the Wild Robot lost.

I thought The Wild Robot was excellent, but to me Flow topped everything this year.

Also a great night for Anora which took editing, screenplay, direction, actress and best picture awards. And a shout out to No Other Land which won for best documentary and now might actually get a distribution deal in the United States.

 

[17futurecap]

Smiling for Flow, Mikey Madison and Sean Baker.

 

[End of Line]

Conclave (2024) 7/10

Ralph Fiennes is f***ing incredible in this. Outside this the pacing of it was off. There’s something else to it that I just can’t put my finger on. The ending was kind of surprising but they were building his character up for something once he was introduced.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

NIckel Boys.
It's almost insulting to call what this movie does a gimmick, but I just don't have a better term. I certainly don't mean in a derogatory sense. If you've seen any clip or know anything about it you probably know it's largely shot from the POV of the main character, though at points it shifts to a second character. There are other movies that start from a technical gimmick/challenge/question. Victoria is a continuous shot. Birdman is the illusion of a continuous shot. Hardcore Henry did POV as a first person shooter. Those are a few that come to mind though surely there are others.

But in nearly all these cases I believe or it at least feels like the technical choice came first and then a movie is built around that. I don't think that's the case with Nickle Boys or it at least feels like that's not the case. A lot of people could have adapted this very same book/story but I can't imagine any of them would take the approach that RaMell Ross takes. Forgive the observation but he has a true POV on this and that POV packs a punch.

A beautiful film on a brutally ugly subject. Some Malick-level hand-through-the-wheat beauty mixed with almost nightmareish images and sounds of the horrors present at night and in the shadows. The camera as the eyes puts you in the character's head. Small details, canted angles. We catch snatches of information. Conversations, memories, montages. It might get a tad too obtuse for it's own good ... I read the book so I knew what was coming but I wonder how the ending hits for people who walked in blind. It worked fully on me, but I can see where it might miss. Overall, this is considered, compelling stuff and I haven't really seen anything quite like it.

The artistic choice is so overwhelming the acting is a little pushed to the side. It's all good, but the camera is the real star here. That said, there's a scene late in this between two characters in a bar and it's among the best acted scenes I've seen all year. A riveting near monologue of things said and unsaid.

This is also a feat of adaptation. As I said, I'd read the book a few years ago and when I heard about the POV approach it really struck me as genius given what transpires. A technical choice as a means to an end, and not the other way around.

I quit doing annual lists a few years ago, but this would be right near the top of 2024 for me.

 

[kihei]

Only the River Flows (2024) Directed by Wei Shujun 7B

Set in the '90s in a dilapidated village in China, Detective Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong) investigates the brutal death of an old woman. Later, a young witness to the death dies as well. Everyone thinks they know who did it, a mentally unstable man who the woman had befriended. Ma Zhe is not so sure. As he obsesses on it, things begin to blur, and then blur some more. On the surface, Only the River Flows sounds like a police procedural borrowed from South Korea, something that Bong Joon-ho might come up with, Memories of Murder or Mother, for instance. But director Wei Shujun sets his movie apart through his approach and style. His movie is highly atmospheric, but also a bit of a puzzle picture, as lines between reality and imagination shift and dissolve. Zhu Yilong, a charismatic actor, plays his detective as if he is heart-sick and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The case should be easy to solve, but his dissatisfaction with the results gnaws away at him. Complicating factors include a pregnant wife and the possibility that their child might suffer brain damage. Wei cleverly sets the action in a police station that has been recently converted from a movie theatre, so the office arrangement takes place on the stage, a brilliant reference to the artifice involved in creating cinematic reality. Only the River Flows is a sometimes frustrating but for the most part bracingly refreshing whodunit that kept me off balance from start to finish.

subtitles